Sanaa does a Houdini

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 23. To escape from 2-6, 2-5 and three match points at 0-40 on opponent's serve, one would require nothing short of a miracle.

Such effort was managed by frail-built Sanaa Bhambri as she outwitted higher ranked and more experienced Nischela Reddy in an absorbing two-and-a-half hour duel, for a place in the girls' quarterfinals in her maiden ITF junior circuit tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

The 13-year old local-girl Sanaa looked down and out before she scripted a courageous 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. More than her skills, it was her temperament which enabled her to stage a comeback from the brink.

After Nischela surged ahead, Sanaa changed her tactics and slowed the pace with `high balls'. As Sanaa retrieved with consistency, Nischela failed to find an opening with her constricted strokeplay to lose the second set.

The crucial break for Sanaa came in the eighth game, when Nischela squandered a 40-15 lead with a spate of unforced errors. Sanaa fittingly closed out the match, which finished in floodlights. Sanaa next plays sixth seed Sasha Abraham, who got past Malaysia's Chen Yee Liaw 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Apart from Sanaa, two other unseeded players - Lata Assudani and Indonesia's Sandy Gumulya had a profitable outing. The Nagpur- based girl Lata scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nandita Chandrasekar, who reached the final of the ITF junior circuit last week in Colombo.

Sandy, who overcame Thailand's eighth-ranked Rattiya Hiranat in the first round, stopped the progress of Preeti Rao with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 verdict.

The top three seeds - Sania Mirza, Thailand's Pichaya Laosirichan and Megha Vakharia managed easy wins.

The results (Indians unless stated): Boys doubles: first round: Vinod Sewa/Chandrasekar Mohanty bt Mahanandan Tyagi (Swe)/Chatwinder Singh 6-3, 6-1; Karan Rastogi/Rishi Behl bt Rahul Rajkhewa/Sratha Saengsuwarn (Tha) 6-3, 6-4; Shivang Mishra/Nishank Mishra bt Wrik Ganguly/Tushar Liberhan 6-1, 6-2; Alamgir Wali (Tha)/Anuwat Dalodom (Tha) bt Jaco T. Mathew/Somdev Dev Varman 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-4; Vikramaditya Menon/Nipun Gupta bt Adam Jaya (Tha)/Manoj Sewa 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Alnabhaji Mohammad (Omn)/Dannio Yahya (Mal) bt Babar Ali (Pak)/Ivan Kovalev (Kaz) 6-4, 6-1; Arun Prakash/John Siefke (US) bt Rohan Gajjar/Vikrant Sane 7-5, 1-6, 6-1; Amanjot Singh/Harshit Sharma bt Ivan Kokurin (Uzb)/Damir Zhyulkbayev (Kaz) 6-1, 6-2.

Girls (prequarterfinals): Sania Mirza bt Parul Goswami 6-1, 6-0; Sandy Gumulya (Ina) bt Preeti Rao 6-3, 3- 6, 6-2; Megha Vakharia bt Halim Kartika (Ina) 6-2, 6-2; Rebecca Dandeniya (UK) bt Maya A. Stefani Rosa (Ina) 6-4, 6-1; Sasha Abraham bt Chen Yee Liaw (Mal) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Lata Assudani bt Nandita Chandrasekar 6-4, 6-4; Sanaa Bhambri bt Nischela B. Reddy 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; Pichaya Laosirichon (Tha) bt Septi Nindya Yutami (Ina) 6-1, 6-2.

First round: Parul bt Harleen Uppal 6-2, 6-1; Preeti bt Samrita Sekar 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Sandy bt Rattiya Hiranat (Tha) 6-4, 6-3; Megha bt Ankita Bhambri 6-4, 6-1; Halim bt Vishika Chhetri 7-5, 3-6, 6-1; Maya bt Sharanya Pattabi 1-6, 6-2, 6-0; Rebecca bt Mansi Modi 6-1, 6-0; Sasha bt Nivedita Venkatesh 6-0, 6-0; Chen Yee bt Tamura Ayako (Jap) 7-5, 6-1; Lata bt Olexandra Verkhnyatska (Ukr) 6-0, 6-2; Nandita bt Anjini Kant 6-0, 6-1; Nischela bt Eriko Wada (Jap) 6-0, 6-0; Sanaa bt Olga Dzyuba 6-3, 6-1; Septi Nindya bt Summer Bhullar 6-0, 6-0; Pichaya bt Neha Palpher 6-0, 6-0.

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